[Gold Paladin] Anger of the Earth

Grade 0: 19

1 Crimson Lion Cub, Kyrph
2 Coongal
2 Falcon Knight of the Azure Sky
3 Flame of Victory
3 Silent Punisher
4 Speeder Hound

Grade 1: 12

4 Halo Shield, Mark
4 Knight of Fair Play, Gallus
2 Little Battler, Tron
2 Precipice Whirlwind, Sagramore

Grade 2: 11

4 Gigantech Commander
4 Knight of Divine Skill, Bowman
3 Sacred Guardian Beast, Nemean Lion

Grade 3: 8

4 Knight of Fury, Agravain
3 Holy Mage, Manawydan
1 Incandescent Lion, Blond Ezel

Ezel is terrible.
Discuss.

You already know most of my reasoning for my reluctance to really give this deck the credit it deserves.

It's mainly the fact that you're banking on jumping to Ezel to boost the soul by three, when there are numerous other scenarios. I'll give you that Coongal is hella consistent with the guard-to-soul schematic, but Gold Paladins aren't really about the soul just yet, so it's really hard to give them a go without just flushing your triggers into Agravain.

Honestly, I really hate having to bank on Ezel too, because I have to open f****** insane to be sure of winning the game. There's not much else I'd want to do to boost soul though. There's Flame of Victory, and riding Agravain several times, but derp, this is the best way.

They have a sort-of Barkgal Engine, so I can't really complain if it helps the purpose of the deck.

Unfortunately, the same thing sort of kills the deck in the end. You still end up banking on having a pattern, because unlike Barcgal, you're looking at an unguaranteed two turns of setup, which, when we're talking Vanguard, is the difference between being ahead or behind. When it comes down to it, you're looking to ride Beaumains to jump to Ezel, which isn't especially hard at first glance, but then you're factoring in that your deck is letting you pull boosters and maintain Kryph's presence.

In the end, while it does unexpectedly help Agravain, it adds a new risk to the deck that, based on your design, will more than likely cause it to fall to a considerable chunk of brute force from those 18k+ columns colliding into you while you're trying to build up soul, even with Coongal in hand to guard.

EDIT: This is, of course, coming from the guy that absolutely despises ride chains and the like for that same "luck of the draw" reasoning. All of my testing has pretty much told me that it's GARmore or bust when it comes to Gold Paladins, simply because you don't have to test your luck on riding stuff like Vort and Beaumains in the other decks.